


your eyes at night

by Murf1307



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Gen, Missing Scene, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 16:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13505034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: Sometimes, Barret can see SOLDIER in Cloud’s eyes, and it’s unsettling as hell.





	your eyes at night

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not done playing the game yet but I’m already trash for this ship, so you can expect more “missing scene” type fics for a while.

Sometimes, Barret thinks he can see a faint glow of Mako in Cloud Strife’s eyes, and he doesn't like it at all.

And yeah, he doesn't really trust the kid. Who the hell runs around swinging a sword when almost all the bad guys have guns these days? Only SOLDIERs. Only people fast enough to not be where the bullet’s gonna be, with eyes quick enough to know where that is.

It unsettles him.

But the thing is, Cloud _shows up_. Yeah, they pay him, and yeah, Tifa’s his childhood best friend, but Cloud still risks his neck for AVALANCHE on the regular.

Barret doesn't exactly have a lot of options, and Cloud is the strongest fighter he knows. So he puts up with the faint glow when he sees it, forcing his own gaze past those lamplike eyes, reminding himself that Cloud is _on their side._

One night, after everything fell apart for good, after they escape Midgar and the group splits up for safety, they stop to rest for a night.

In the dark, the glow is a little more pronounced, especially when Cloud uses some Restore materia to heal a long bruise along his forearm. He’s not looking at Barret, and Barret doesn’t _want_ to be looking at him.

But for the moment, he watches.

Cloud notices, after a moment. He tips his face up, expression going flinty. “What?”

“Nothin’.” Barret doesn’t break his gaze when their eyes meet.

The tension builds. Red XIII — and what kind of a name is _that_? Barret still can hardly believe it — whuffles a little as he flops down next to the small fire they’ll be putting out soon. Barret doesn’t even notice.

“You don’t like me.” Cloud says, and there’s no accusation or value judgment. Just an evenly-stated fact.

“I don’t like what you are,” Barret says.

Cloud doesn’t _flinch_ , exactly, but something changes in his eyes. A memory, maybe. Maybe _Barret_ is the accusatory one tonight.

“What?” Barret isn’t sure how to read the look in his eyes, and it puts him on edge.

“Someone told me once, ‘Embrace your dreams. Protect your honor, as SOLDIER.’” Cloud looks out into the dark fields around them. “I don’t think he knew what we were really doing.”

This conversation has veered into territory Barret doesn’t know how to handle. He shrugs. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

“Yeah.”

Barret doesn’t like that, doesn’t trust it. The closest thing they have to a Shinra insider doesn’t know shit about Shinra? There’s gotta be something there.  
Cloud exhales. “Part of me wants to forget.”

“...Why?” The tone of Cloud’s voice is achingly familiar, and Barret remembers Corel, remembers the destruction and — well, he thinks he might understand.

“If I don’t know what I did, can you really blame me for it?”

“Not sure it matters, much. People will anyway, ‘cause you still did it.” Barret rolls his shoulders, discomfort settling in his gut. “Better to know exactly what you gotta make up for.”

Cloud shrugs. “Maybe.”

He meets Barret’s eyes again, and that faint glow is even more unsettling than before, a green under blue. Barret keeps looking.

They fall into silence, still looking at each other.

Cloud’s the first to look away, turning toward the fire. “We should put that out.”

“...Yeah. ‘M I taking first watch?”

And just like that, the moment is gone. They muddle through the late night camp routines — too new still to really call them that, but Barret wouldn’t know what else to call them — and then Cloud’s laying down on a bedroll, facing away from him.

Barret lets out an exhale. He doesn’t know what to think about Cloud.

But maybe, someday, he will.


End file.
